


High Hopes Low Momentum

by Goldstone_Wolf



Series: High Hopes Low (Blank) [50]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), High Hopes Low Rolls (Web Series)
Genre: Ambulances, Angst, Anxiety, Blood, Car Accidents, Descriptions of a Car Crash, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Like Bad Car Accidents, Literally Everyone in one car almost dies, M/M, Sort Of, Temporary Character Death, Unconsciousness, critical role references, it's really rough, paramedics, tws for:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26316034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldstone_Wolf/pseuds/Goldstone_Wolf
Summary: On the way home from a convention, High Hopes decides to race home in two cars. Unfortunately, only one of the cars makes it home. The other one is AWOL—until the phone rings and a shaking, weak voice comes in.
Relationships: A Lot of Platonic Relationships With One Another, Malark Dundragon/Paddock "Paddy" Whitlaw, Rook Lunera/Gwing Veloce
Series: High Hopes Low (Blank) [50]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692196
Kudos: 6





	High Hopes Low Momentum

**Author's Note:**

> So I was actually having a bit of fun at that youth camp I mentioned (yes I had my mask on; as my dad is the youth pastor I didn’t have a choice of staying home), at least until my blood sugar dropped so low that I couldn’t even hold a baby carrot without my hands shaking like miniature hurricanes. Also, some advice—never chug a plant-based, unshaken chocolate milk in less than twenty seconds on an empty stomach. It’s not smart.  
> Also, if you ever go to California and Siri tells you to take the 154/I-54 (it’s one of those two, going north from Los Angeles), DO NOT TAKE IT. My dad had a cop friend (said friend is no longer a cop and has not been for years) who patrolled there and he told his family not to drive it. It’s scary, if your car falls off in some areas they can’t get it or possibly even you out. There are no lights, and driving it even in the daytime is scary. Yes, I know from experience. We drove it once and someone was tailgating us the entire time. There’s no one around you to help if you get taken out, and I think there are a lot of trucks on top of that.   
> Anyways, let’s jump into the fic.

“You better _stay in your lane,_ sir, ma’am, or neuter, _because I know zat I can vin zis.”_ Hashaan growled at the person encroaching on their car, hunched over the wheel like a grandma. The black dragonborn was currently driving Mina’s car, a blue truck that would _obviously_ win against the little red beetle tailgating them. For the moment, Mina was sleeping in the backseat whilst Terra and Zada played cards with her lap as a table. She didn’t seem to mind. Nagar was riding shotgun, occasionally changing the music according to Hashaan’s whims, and Ryce and Brio were playing a drinking game with Ava in the middle seat. Originally, Nagar had been in the back, but then Mina had clearly needed a break and Hashaan stepped up instead.

Glaring out the window, Hashaan hissed when she saw the person come into view. The beetle’s driver was a half-orc with bright golden eyes and a scar on his face, and she glowered down at him. “Hey, I recognise that guy from the convention. Didn’t he have a panel?” Ryce asked, glancing over.

“Vell, if he was responsible enough for a panel, zen he should be responsible enough to know how to _drive properly!”_ Hashaan spat, gripping the wheel like she was about to tear it off. The expression on her face almost perfectly mirrored the one she had made when she grabbed Rook’s Rubiks Cube from him and then chucked it away in a fit of anger.

“Hashaan, your Gimgar is showing.” Brio commented, and Hashaan glanced at her and then took a breath. As she settled back in the seat, straightening up her posture and then fixing her grip on the wheel, she exhaled loudly.

“Nagar, please put something from Ryce on.” She announced, and Nagar started scrolling through her phone. The screen was cracked in multiple places where Hashaan had accidentally pierced it with her claws. Since this one had lasted longer than six months, however, Paddy and Malark had started joking that it was basically invincible. “Actually, vit, call Paddy. I vant to know how zey are.” She added, and Nagar started scrambling to fix it.

After a few rings, the wood elf picked up his phone. _“Hey, Hashaan! What’s up?”_

“Just vanted to check in on you.” Hashaan replied, and there was a laugh on Paddy’s side of the line. “How’s everything in your car?”

_“Well, Torlin and Gimgar were starting to sing along to_ Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea, _so I think they’re starting to catch on to my musical taste.”_ Paddy replied.

“Hey! We should race home!” There was a cheer from both sides of the line, and Hashaan whipped around to look at Brio and Ava, who had both cheered the loudest. “Driving safely, of course.”

Gimgar began laughing loudly, _“Why would we do_ that _, it’s no fun?”_

_“Because we don’t want to get arrested and have a ticket, and I want to prove to everyone that I can actually drive?”_

_“Oh, we trust you, Paddy—”_

_“No, we don’t—”_

Gasping, Paddy yelped, _“_ Malark!” There was some chattering, and Hashaan smiled as she glanced out at the coast. It whipped along outside, grey-blue waters rolling quietly. They hadn’t been in California for very long and wouldn’t be staying for much longer. The convention lasted for the rest of the week, and then they had another week to drive around where they were staying and see whatever sights they could. It was a nice place, maybe a little warm and green for autumn, but still nice all the same.

“Sounds like _someone_ is having trouble with his boyfriend.” Ryce teased, and Hashaan could almost see Paddy’s face flushing as stuttering crossed over the line.

_“Okay, you know what? You’re on, Ryce. We’ll see you at home, everyone. Love you.”_ Paddy hung up before Hashaan could say it back, and she saw their car speed up just a little bit. Obviously, they were still on the legal speed limit, but they had shifted into the fast line. Gwing was probably yelling at Paddy to be careful with her car, and Hashaan shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“They’re going to be fine, Hashaan.” Zada reassured from the back. She didn’t even bother to glance up from her and Terra’s card game, while Mina snored on between the two of them. Shifting, Hashaan glanced back out at the coastline outside and then looked back to the road. The sun was hanging lower in the sky than it had been when they had left Los Angeles, midway between the sun visor and the mountains. _Paddy and the others are fine, Hashaan. Just drive on California’s stupid roads._ She mused.

Settling back into the seat, she tried to ignore the tense feeling in her stomach that told her something was very, _very_ wrong.

+++

“Hey, Malark, mind putting on something other than Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance?” Gimgar asked from the backseat, where she and Torlin were sitting right next to one another.

It was Gwing’s car, and she’d been driving it for the whole week. Rather than let her tire herself out to getting sick, Paddy and Rook had schemed to steal the keys from her. After begging for several hours, they’d finally gotten her to relent, and she was now curled in the backseat against Rook as he read a book. Zenya and Nala were in their carriers in the footwells of the middle seat, just so that their human companions could know they were safe.

“We have _The Blood of Cu Chulainn,_ the extended version of _Hey Brother_ , and then _Magic._ ”

“Which one?”

“SAINT PHNX’s version.”

“Eh put on the first one. It’s pretty.” Gimgar mused, and Torlin cheered. Still leaning against Rook, Gwing mumbled something in her sleep.

“Hey, when we get home, we should have some of those pumpkin bars!” Torlin said, straightening up. “They looked so good last night and we didn’t even get to have any because of Nala.”

Wincing sympathetically, Rook glanced down at where the black panther was curled in her carrier. She was fast asleep, but the night before the cat had tried to steal food from Gwing and Rook’s plates. Rather than end up with anything good for her, she’d grabbed some chicken bones and Rook had ended up having to grab them out of her mouth after they got stuck. Nala wasn’t hurt, thankfully, but it had been gross enough to put everyone off of eating and they’d just watched one of the movies their hosts had left for them.

Grinning, Gimgar added, “Maybe we could watch the rest of _Lord of the Rings…_ which movie were we on, again?”

“ _Twin Towers,_ I think.” Malark mused, and Torlin nodded. “Definitely in the top ten movies I’ve ever watched. Or…movie series, I guess.”

“Maybe next we could binge _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek._ ” Paddy teased, and Malark shot his boyfriend a quiet look. “Don’t give me that look, Mal. They’re both good series.”

“I didn’t say they weren’t _decent_ , but I know what you’re thinking of doing and we are not trading off watching one movie from one series and then one from the other _with_ Star Wars _and_ Star Trek.” Laughing, Paddy looked back at the road ahead. “Whitlaw, you’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met.”

“You know you love me.”

Malark sighed and nodded, “I do love you—even though you are the weirdest person I know.”

“Are we sure about that?”

My Chemical Romance came on, and the whole car started singing along to “Teenagers” with as much energy as a concert crowd would. Gwing tapped the beat along with her foot, still asleep. Grinning, Paddy turned to glance at Malark. Malark grinned back at him, face still hidden behind the mask like usual. It wasn’t that often that he took it off, so Paddy had gotten pretty good at telling when he was grinning (Malark smiled with his eyes).

After a while of driving, they switched through radio stations for the heck of it. RadioU was one of the apparent options, and then they went into an area where it abruptly switched from some kind of rap to mariachi music and none of them knew how to turn it back, so they went back to Paddy’s playlist. “Hey, do you have anything by Ryce on your Spotify?” Torlin asked, sitting as far forward in her seat as her seatbelt would allow her to. A grin split her features, bright green eyes sparkling in the sunshine streaming through the windshield.

“Hey, guys, there’s Hashaan and the others!” Gimgar pointed out at the blue truck. They all could recognise the High Hopes logo painted on the side of the door, and Paddy grinned and waved slightly. Hashaan was focused on the road in front of her, but Nagar grinned like a puppy and waved to her. There was a face pressed up against the back windows, and Paddy let out a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a snort. Sending him an amused look, Malark waved to the other car and then turned back to Paddy’s playlists.

At some point, they lost Hashaan and the others again, and Paddy settled back into his seat with a roll of his shoulders. Around them, golden hour sunlight struck through the gaps in the massive mountains around them. He saw a rest stop as they drove beneath a tunnel in the mountains. Lights flashed by, and Torlin and Gimgar must have said some kind of joke between themselves because both dwarves started giggling like elementary school students.

As they pulled out of the tunnel, a red-tailed hawk soared overhead, and Paddy glanced up at it. “Cool bird, right Rook?” He asked, and Rook glanced out. A soft smile crossed his face. “Oh, fun fact—apparently bald eagles sound more like car alarms. The sound you hear in movies is actually from red-tailed hawks.”

“The national bird of America was also almost a turkey.” Gwing mumbled, and everyone looked at her as she stretched and sat up. When everyone kept looking at her, she looked at them all. “What? I looked some random facts up while I was trying to find a place that would take fourteen people, a pseudodragon, and a panther. It wasn’t exactly easy, you know.”

“I can’t imagine it would be. Our group isn’t exactly…quiet, you know.” Paddy glanced at Malark, who rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. Have you heard Gimgar and Nagar during _Monopoly_?”

“No, my ears are always ringing afterwards.” The hill dwarf cackled in the backseat, and everyone glanced back at her warmly. Outside, there was a screeching noise, and Paddy froze up before glancing back behind him for a quick second. A deer had bounded out of the woods and almost hit one of the cars, and the others were slowing down. When he turned to look forwards, he was expecting to maybe see some more deer.

Instead, he turned around just in time to see a truck jackknife towards them.

For a few moments, everything seemed to slow down. Gravity flipped, and there was metal screeching and people in the car screaming as it spun around. Metal grinded on asphalt, and Paddy felt his shoulder ram against the window. His head smacked against the glass as the car tipped again, this time rolling down into a ditch or something. There was a heavy jolt as they slammed against a tree, and Paddy felt something slam against his stomach.

Lifting his head weakly, he glanced over with blurry eyes. Malark was slumped against the spiderweb-cracked window, eyes closed and blood dripping from a cut above his eye. A weak cough forced its way from Paddy’s chest, and his head fell back against the headrest.

He didn’t remember passing out.

+++

It had been four hours since Hashaan had seen Paddy and the others, and there had been no response.

Pacing the floor, she called Paddy’s phone for the thirteenth time. She tried his phone, she tried Malark’s. She’d tried Gwing’s and Rook’s and Gimgar’s and Torlin’s. There had been no response from any of them.

Biting her claws, she glanced at the clock again and again. Mina and Terra and Zada were sitting on the couch, trying to call the others on their own rotation as well. Nagar and Ryce were trying to scrape together an actual dinner for everyone. Brio was scribbling in her notebook, although no one was sure why, exactly. All of them had their own ways of showing their worry, but this was something none of them expected. Paddy and the others had told them that they’d be back, they had told Hashaan that they’d be back and they would see them at home, and yet they weren’t there and instead Hashaan felt a deepening pit in her stomach.

_“Hey, this is Paddy Whitlaw. I can’t reach my phone right now, so leave a message at the beep. Malark, can you do the beep?”_ There was a plaintive tone to Paddy’s voice, something that he had recorded not long after he and Malark started dating. Had it really only been a couple months?

_“I am_ not _beeping.”_ Malark’s tone had a particular kind of growl to it.

Hashaan could almost hear the bright eyes that Paddy had to have been sending the assassin when he spoke again. _“Please?”_ There was a growl from Malark.

_“Ugh, fine. Beep.”_

Rubbing at her snout and her burning eyes, Hashaan shook her head and looked into the living room. “Hey, Paddy. I do not know if you are getting zese or not, but if you are, ve are really vorried about you. Please just pick up your phone.” She whispered hoarsely, hanging up and then setting her phone down. _They’re okay, they’re capable of handling themselves. Maybe their phones just died, or they’re out of cell service. Sometimes that happens._ She mused, running her hand over her snout and horns and then back down to her shoulders.

In the living room, there was a sob. Glancing out, she saw Terra was crying, shoulders shaking and breath stuttering in her chest. Hashaan set her phone down on the table and went over, sitting down on the couch when Zada moved to make room. “What if they’re hurt?” Terra whispered, looking up with wide yellow eyes. Hashaan pulled her into a hug, feeling the tiny genasi press against her.

“Zey vill be fine, Terra. I’m sure zat zey vill be valking through ze door any second.” Hashaan rubbed the girl’s back with a scaled hand, glancing at Zada and Mina. Neither of the other girls seemed very encouraged, and Mina started calling one of their missing members again. Walking away, she started pacing in the hall.

Looking at the door, Hashaan clutched Terra closer, feeling tears dripping against her scales.

+++

He came to with his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Groaning, Rook cracked his eyes open and blinked a few times to clear the blood out of them. Gwing was lying against his chest, eyes closed and completely limp. After a terrifying moment, he realised he could still feel her breathing against his chest. Zenya was wailing, and Nala was growling loudly. Swearing under his breath, Rook pulled his phone out of his pocket, coughing. The glass behind his head was cracking, and he slowly eased himself upright. Answering the call, he weakly forced out, “Wha—h-hey.”

“Rook! Oh my gosh, what happened to you guys? Where are you?” Mina’s voice asked, and Rook glanced around. The car wasn’t on the road anymore, and he could see blue and red lights flashing outside. Whoever it was apparently was taking their time, or they didn’t realise Rook and the others were out there. “Rook?”

“The—the car. We crashed.” Turning and raising his arm, Rook winced aloud and dropped his phone. In the dim light streaming between the cracks in the glass, he could see darker patches mottling his wrist. _We don’t have time for this._ He glanced down at Gwing and tried to move his legs. When he did, his left ankle started aching, and he let out a cry of pain.

Behind him, he heard Gimgar and Torlin stirring. Rook sucked in a breath, grabbed his phone, and heard Mina talking to him. “Rook, where did you crash?”

“I—I don’t know. One second.” Taking another breath, he rammed his elbow into the glass window behind him. The cracked surface shattered with a loud _crash_ , and he noticed the people on the highway turning. Flashlights crossed across the car, and he saw a few silhouettes as people started running over. “Help’s coming, don’t worry. We’re all—we’re all fine here.” He slumped against the seat again and looked at the others. Gwing’s seatbelt had stayed around her waist, but there was a nasty bruise across her cheek where her head must have hit one of the armrests in front of her. As far as he could tell, Malark and Paddy were both unconscious, but Torlin and Gimgar were waking up a lot faster.

“Rook? Rook! Who’s hurt?” Swallowing, he sucked in a few more breaths. Breathing was hard, and his ribs ached.

“I—I don’t know.” He glanced out as grass swished outside, and he realised that he could see the faces of the people running up to him. “Look, Mina, help’s here, we’re going to be fine. I promise.”

“Rook Lunera, you are not—” Mina’s voice suddenly cut off, and Rook looked down to see that his phone had died. The paramedics arrived as Malark stirred with a groan.

“Paddy…?” The rogue sucked in a shaky breath, and Rook heard him start breathing heavier. “Paddy? _Paddy!”_

“Hey, hey, everything’s okay, we’re going to have you out in a second. Lavorre, go get the others! Tell them we need to cut the door off!” One of them shouted, and a blue tiefling sprinted away at full speed. The speaker, a purple tiefling with a lot of tattoos, started pulling at Rook’s door. “Were you the one who broke the glass?”

“You weren’t looking…” Rook wheezed, and the tiefling smiled reassuringly.

“Sorry about that. The other guy hit a tree, we didn’t realise that there had been anyone else involved in the accident.” Some others arrived with a couple gurneys, and the first tiefling ducked around and started saying things in Infernal and medical terms that Rook couldn’t hope to understand. Whatever it was, he knew it was bad enough that they didn’t want to talk about it in Common.

He must have passed out, because when he opened his eyes he was lying on his back on a gurney. People were talking all around him and he could hear the sound of helicopter blades. Someone was having to get airlifted, apparently. _That’s not going to be fun. Wonder who it is…_ Tilting his head to the side, he saw Paddy a couple feet away. The wood elf was flat on the ground, one of the paramedics leaning over him and pressing down on his chest as Paddy was fed oxygen through a tube threaded down his throat. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t breathing on his own. Somewhere in the back of Rook’s mind, he realised that the paramedics were doing CPR and Paddy was dying. Malark was screaming somewhere else, shouting something, but Rook couldn’t make out the words because he passed out again.

The last thing he thought about was that he hoped Zenya and Nala would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I set it in California because why not. Also, I know some people might think that over 200 or so miles (320+ km) is a lot, but it’s not to me, so that’s obviously going to affect…well, everything. Also, the drive between Los Angeles and where I live is actually really pretty, which is why there’s a lot of description. I like my state, even though I *do* wish it had actual seasons because I’ve never seen the trees turn colours in autumn. It’s just green.   
> Also, binging Lord of the Rings was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, but it was for a school project and we didn’t entirely binge them. Also, yes, there will be a sequel to this. I’m not that cruel, I’m just super tired and I want to write some fluff.  
> Anyways, into the fray once more!


End file.
